THE CATHOLIC primate, Cardinal Seán Brady, has welcomed a planned Government-backed inquiry into the handling of child abuse allegations in the Diocese of Cloyne.
Accepting there was a "deficit of trust" in the Catholic Church, Cardinal Brady said he supported the Government's decision yesterday to extend the remit of the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation to include an inquiry into child protection practices in Cloyne.
The commission is to report back its findings on Cloyne by July 7th, 2009, or "six months from today'', as Minister of State for Children Barry Andrews said at a press conference yesterday.
A statement from Cloyne diocese said the Bishop of Cloyne John Magee "will give every possible co-operation to the commission in carrying out its task''.
The statement said Bishop Magee also accepted the findings of a HSE report into the diocese, which was published by Mr Andrews yesterday.
The HSE report of an audit of child protection practices in Catholic dioceses in the Republic cited failures in reporting mechanisms in Cloyne.
As well as welcoming the report's publication, Cardinal Brady also welcomed "the announcement that the Minister's Office and the HSE will be engaging with the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) to explore how they can co-operate to ensure the highest standards of child safeguarding practice within the Catholic Church.
"I am confident that the competence and independence of the National Board will play a key role in addressing the deficit of trust noted by the Minister.''
He was "heartened by the Minister's recognition that strides had been 'taken in recent times in the diocese [of Cloyne] to improve the manner in which child protection matters are handled'.''
In a brief comment, the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, said he "fully endorses'' what Cardinal Brady said.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio, the NBSC chairman, Aidan Canavan, also welcomed "the opportunity, as outlined by the Minister for Children today, of working more closely with the HSE in the interests of children".
Mr Andrews said yesterday he believed it necessary to refer Cloyne diocese to the Dublin commission because of "discrepancy between stated policies and procedures [there] and the validation of these policies and practices.''
He noted the HSE concluded, following its "review of and the engagement now being provided" by Cloyne, that referral of the diocese to the Dublin commission "was not warranted".
But the Minister said he disagreed. "I believe that there is evidence that points to the fact that Bishop Magee, as the responsible person, did not faithfully report actual compliance with child protection procedures and the manner in which clerical sexual abuse allegations have been dealt with. In a post-Ferns inquiry environment, it is unacceptable that full and faithful reporting of child sexual abuse allegations should not take place.''
He instanced two occasions, on November 23rd, 2005 and January 3rd, 2007, when Bishop Magee informed the State that Cloyne diocese complied with church and State guidelines on child protection. The facts had been found to be otherwise in both instances by the NBSC report published on December 19th last and the HSE report published yesterday, he said.
Referring to the fact that, for legal reasons, no bishop in any diocese had filled in Section 5 of the HSE audit questionnaire, which sought specific information on abuse cases in each diocese, he said "the absence of this information significantly detracted from the value of the HSE audit''.
In order to overcome the difficulties involved, his office, the HSE and the NBSC, would explore putting in place mechanisms to ensure the highest standards of child protection.
